Despite that name, no aliens were harmed in the making of this post.
I’m no coffee connoisseur, but I’ve certainly had my share of awful cups over the decades. Granted, I was never a badass brew-meister, but amusingly enough got my first gig making coffee at a law firm I worked at back in the early 80’s as a messenger/light legal clerk (or: a messenger who could pick up and deliver all sort of legal stuff from paperwork to banking related stuff). No one else in the small office could make a good pot of coffee, although there were two secretaries who did the basics with the office’s pricey Bunn automatic.
One day, one of the gals was out sick and the other kind of refused to make the coffee, so I figured “what the hell, it doesn’t look *too* hard”, only to discover one reason the guy running the firm wasn’t happy with the coffee was no one had EVER cleaned the darn machine. Ugh. I ended up hoofing it down to the nearest deli, buying a few cups of coffee there for the lawyer, rushing back and giving the Bunn and area around it a thorough scrubbing. At one point, the lawyer popped out of his office and saw what I was doing and was kind of floored that someone would go to all that trouble. Yes, he reimbursed me for the coffee I’d bought and told me that I was now responsible for getting that brewer brewing up his cuppa Joe. Pressure much?
The back of the sack, for the curious cats out there.
Flash forward quite a few too many years and I’m staring with some amusement at the Mega Cat Studios shop at the listing for its Alien Meat Brew Coffee ($15.99) and wondering what’s the deal. Nope, I’m no coffee connoisseur, but I know that if you’re going to sell anything coffee-related that’s drinkable, it’s going to need to be worth what it costs. So, I did what anyone curious with a few spare bucks lying around would do. I placed an order and decided to see what was what. The bean-only thing meant I’d have to break out the Krups grinder I’d bought about two or three years back and quickly checking out a few grinding tips online. Mega Cat also sells those beans un-roasted and green, but I’m not about to try roasting anything at home unless it’s going in the oven at 375 degrees or so and goes well with fava beans and a nice Chanti.
Not too long afterward, my extremely well boxed order arrived. I’d chosen the coffee beans alone and not with the Steam code for the game thanks to already having the demo installed and recently buying the full version. Did I mention it’s a fine (excellent, actually) game that’s a snappy, fun homage to the 16-bit days with great looks and a killer soundtrack? No? Well it is and it’s also available on the Sega Genesis starting at $39.99 for the cart version.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Yeah, yeah, it’s neither fancy nor expensive. but it does what it needs to do and is easily replaced the minute it doesn’t. Er, add a day or two for shipping if the weather is good.
I usually go for a larger cup (I call it… the stone bucket!), but I was feeling like taking a few extra pics for no reason other than showing off some of the too many mugs I have here (er, beware if this becomes a regular feature, but maybe not, as I think it’s a boring bunch of designs myself. Er, secretly). I decided to break out this oldie from 1992 for cup number one:
And cup number two was this more recent acquisition from a press event here in NYC:
Not actual size. I think. I sometimes need a second cup before I’m really awake, but I think the first one worked quite well.
Hell, I can’t afford a a gorgeous MAINGEAR laptop or desktop at all, but I sure can pretend I do. Or at least drink some damn fine coffee from one and think I can afford one. Yeah, good coffee does give one that power to dream. Or actually, stay awake so you get those dreams you had kind of taken are of. The verdict: Smooth (very) and somewhat fruity with a nifty caffeine kick (that’s not a full on blow to the noggin) thanks to those Tanzania Peaberry beans doing their thing. Sp, nope, not a gimmick and yep, those Mega Cat kids sure know how to get one to curiously try their product.
Speaking of product, Mega Cat’s latest game, Log Jammers, is live on Kickstarter with 12 days left closer to its target and still in need of support. Yep, go on and click that link, check out the game and pledge away. I say.
EDIT: Here’s a funny for you: I was about to end the post with that video, but I just realized that it’s #NationalCoffeeDay today and (wait for it…) #InternationalCoffeeDay tomorrow. WHO KNEW? This led to a hasty banner grab and a slight edit, but yeah, happy #getlegallybuzzedday to all you java junkies out there! Uh, pass the cuppy on the left and side? Actually, it’s more like TOUCH MY COFFEE, YOU LOSE A HAND to some of the more extreme fiends out there (you know who you are!).
To be frank (Hi, Frank!), man, I rather dislike these made up holidays, but it’s good for clicks and hits when needed, I guess. Now, will there be a part two? Yes, if only because I recently tried a super smooth cold brew coffee that kept me going for an extended night of writing recently and that was a mere sample cup. Give me a few days (I’m still swimming in game and movie reviews plus some tech stuff to babble about) and it’ll be time for a new wake up call of the caffeinated variety.
-GW
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 